SAND-BINDING PLANTS are growing natur ally all along the sea-sliores of British India, and in the tracts on the margin of the Indian desert ; but more could be done to prevent the sands being blown from the deserts and from the gulf between Ceylon and Peninsular India, and from the shallow beds of its many rivers. Bremontier, by-planting the Landes of Gascony with the cluster or pouch .pine (Firms pinaster or P. maritima of botan ists), recovered 100,000 acres from the blown sand.
This class of plants has been largely utilized in Australia, and Baron von Mueller enumerates sixty. genera, which he recommends to be so employed ; among them species of aloe, carex, casuarina, cynodon, opuntia, spartina, spinifex, stipa, tamarix, and yucca.
Spinifex sguarrosus, Linn., known to Europeans by the designation of ground rattan and sea pink. The Tamil name, Ravan mise or Maha Rawana and Rmwula, i.e. whiskers of Havana, is a descriptive epithet. It conies near to the sand carex of England in its habit of, growth, creep ing along horizontally, sometimeS above, some times below the surface of the earth, emitting roots and shoots at intervals of a few inches. It is extremely tenacious of life, the shoot at every node being capable of renewing the existence of the individual as fast as destroyed, and the whole plant offers a resistance to the effects of a storm, which is rarely overcome. This species would be nearly as indestructible from natural causes as couch grass, and would speedily colonize the , sand tracts spontaneously, if it were only left unmolested for a year or two.
Ipomma pes-caprm, Sweet. Mosul taylie, Tam. Goat's - foot - leaved ipomoett, or rabbit weed, is perennial, creeping to a very great extent. Stems rooting at distant intervals. Leaves smooth, long-petioled, two-lobed, like those of Bauhinia, tipped with a neacro. Flowers large, reddish purple, very handsome. This fine creeper is equally abundant in both Peninsulas of India, is also a native of Mauritius, Macao, etc., occupying the place of C. soldanella of the British coast, and a more striking and beautiful species of the tropical bindweeds is rarely seen. Rabbits, goats, and horses eat it, so do cows, but their milk is tainted. Great difficulty occurs in raising this plant in the vicinity of houses, as the inhabitants tread it down, and cattle nibble the tender shoots. It naturally takes a higher position on the sand band than the spinifex, and suffers less injury during a, storm ; but they often grow together, and conjointly effect much benefit. The spinifex arrests the drifting sand, and the ipomoea secures what the former collects. Mr. Caddell planted it extensively along the canal banks near Tranquebar.
Canavalia obtusifolia, D. C. Koyli avaree, TAM.
Common on the sea-shore, frequently entwined with the Iponmea pes-caprm. It is a very useful plant, very abundant at the Adyar, Ennore, the mouth of the Godavery, and between Quilon and Anj engo.
Hydroph,ylax maritima Linn., the Mudugaeta kola of the Singhalese, lilerally jointed sea-shore plant, a straggling herbaceous plant, native of the shore of Coromandel, where it shows its pale lilac blossoms great part of the year. The branches run over the sand, sometimes under the surface, and strike root at the joints. It answers well when the sand is moist.
Microrhynchus sarmentosus, Wight Ill., is a widely-diffused humble plant, COTIIMOD along the sea-beach, with long fiagelliform runners.
Pupalia orbiculata, Wight.
Achyranthes orbiculata, Heyne. I Adai yotti, . TAM. Cyathula orbiculata, Illoquin. I Grows on sandy soils near the sea-beach, abund ant at St. Thome and near the mouth of the Adyar river. It is an extensively-spreading pro cumbent plant, the branches being often several feet long ; bristles attaching themselves to the clothes of. passengers, cling to them with tenacity.
Pandanus odoratissimus, Linn., the kaldera bush, Taylie marrti, Tam., is a, large spreading ramous shrub, often planted in belts, but takes up much room, forms dense thickets, and harbours venomous reptiles. The lauds in which chay root is cultivated are often protected from drift sand by means of this shrub. It is a very strong binder, but is objectionable from its raising sand hills.
Ehretia arenaria, Griffith, is found between lat. 12° and. 28° N. binds together loose sand in a minor degree. 'It may be the same as Ehretia cuneata ? W. Icon. iv. t. 1385, which grows on sandbanks in the beds of all the rivers of the Western Peninsula of India.
Pedalium murex, Iponnea pes-tigridis, and Sesanium prostratum, etc., co-operate in the work of e,onservation to a minor extent, but are less widely diffused along the coast ; also Fagrcea Coromandellia. Trees such as the cashew (Anacardium occidentale), the Alexandrian laurel (CalophyIlum inophyllum), and the wild date (Phomix sylveatris) grow well, and render a double service by preventing a further encroach ment of sand, and rendering the land useful. In Ceylon, the glass-wortit, Salicornia Indica, and aalt-worts, Salsola Indica, are the first to appear among the newly-raised banks. Iponuea pes cap= abounds ou the shores, also Canavalia obtusifolia, Dolichos luteus, and the Hydrophylax maritime. A little above high-water mark is, likewise, the Aristolochia bracteata, the Hedyotis umbellate, Sayan ; also Choya, SINGH. ; Gloriosa superba, Vistnu karaudi, TAN., or Lippia nodi flora. —Dr. Cleglaorn ; Sir J. E. Thum!: ; ron Mnelkr ; Prof. Rolleston, p. 16.